Gwent, Hearthstone, and other silly card games

I know everyone who visits SSLF was a huge fan of my Scorp's Thread for RPGs No One Else Plays, so now it's time for Scorp's Thread for Card Games No One Else Plays!

In here I will ramble about card game crap to hear the echoes of my text bounce off the walls of the Internet. I will mostly talk about Gwent and Hearthstone, probably, maybe with some Elder Scrolls Legends just for the heck of it.

Here is my current favorite Hearthstone deck: the Taunt Quest Warrior (EDIT: Now very very slightly updated!)

Spoiler

1x Fire Plume's Heart

2x Armorsmith

2x Battle Rage

2x Execute

1x Sleep with the Fishes

1x Acolyte of Pain

2x Fiery War Axe

2x Ravaging Ghoul

1x Tar Creeper

2x Stonehill Defender

2x Blood Razor

2x Saronite Chain Gang

2x Alley Armorsmith

2x Brawl

1x Direhorn Hatchling

1x Skulking Geist <-- purely to fight Jade Golem Druid players

1x The Curator

2x Primordial Drake

1x The Lich King

Now, this deck is gonna be pretty impossible to make unless you're willing to spend real money, or else you've just been free-2-play'ing FOREVER, like I have. But all you really need to get started is Fire Plume's Heart, which is the Warrior Quest. I think it costs 1600 dust to craft. After that, you should be able to climb through the low ranks using whatever taunt minions you have in your collection, though you'll want to craft a Brawl or 2 as soon as possible. The Fire Plume quest always appears in your starting hand, and you play it on your first turn. Then, after you've summoned 7 minions with Taunt, you'll get Sulfuras (the hammer of Ragnaros), a 4/2 weapon that changes your hero power to "Deal 8 Damage to a Random Enemy" for the rest of the game.

The thing I like best about this deck is its simplicity. Not too much of that "thinking" crap for you, no sir. Just keep laying down those big, fat Taunt minions until you finish that quest, equip Sulfuras, and then your goal for the rest of the game simply becomes: clear the board as much as you can on each turn, and then always use your hero power. Eventually you will kill them.

Since ALL of your minions taunt, this is very good against Aggro decks, and since you have plenty of board-clear cards, it's good against Control decks too. The only Aggro deck that gives it trouble is Hunter, who is very strong right now. The way you can try to get around the pure face-damage of the Hunter is to mulligan your quest at the start of the game. Yes, you read that right - just toss it aside. That gives you at least 1 extra card to hopefully control the board long enough to wear the hunter down. Because once a hunter's wasted most of his cards smashing up against your Taunts, he'll be running on empty and just quit. As long as you can hold out, you'll never need Sulfuras from the quest, so don't even try for it.

There are still some decks that cause trouble. First are Mages, who can freeze your minions, deal direct damage to your face with spells (ignoring your taunts), and stay alive using Ice Block and Armor. Luckily Mage is not in the meta right now, so you won't meet many. The trick against mages is to hit their face as hard as you can, as fast as you can. Same with Priests, because one of the top decks in the meta right now is "Highlander Priest" (so called because "There can be only one!" of each card in their deck), and once the Highlander priest has everything set up to their advantage (having played Raza the Chained and Shadowreaper Anduin), it's almost impossible to stop their onslaught. You might consider running Dirty Rat to try to draw out Highlander Priest's Raza without triggering its Battlecry effect (which breaks the priest's entire game plan), but that's kinda risky, and I don't have Dirty Rat, so I haven't tried it.

Man, I hate Priest players...

Anyway, otherwise, just remember not to waste your board-clear cards (Brawl and Sleep with the Fishes) until you absolutely have to use them, and use your "damage all minions" cards (Ravaging Ghoul, Blood Razor, & Primordial Drake) to draw more cards with Acolyte & Battle Rage, and to armor up with Armorsmith, and to clear the board via Sleep with the Fishes, and of course to Execute big threats. It's all about saving, controlling, and enduring until you get Sulfuras, and then go all-out on attack.

Of course I've only ever gotten to Rank 10 in Ranked Standard, so what the heck do I know about it? Anyway, that's all. Enjoy.

I hear your cries, people of SSLF. I hear what you truly want. "Scorp!" you shout, "Scorp! It has been too long!" And who am I to deny you? Yes, it is that time again. It's time for...

Another post about a card game no one else plays!

This time it's Gwent. Last time I showed you my Hearthstone Magni deck, all about being tough with Taunt cards. This time I will continue the theme of tough-ass dwarves with my Dwarven Endurance deck for the Scoia'tael faction in Gwent:

The card list is:

Spoiler

LEADER:

Brouver Hoog (or, arguably, Francesca)

BRONZE:

3x Dwarven Agitator

3x Elven Wardancer

3x Mahakam Defender

1x Vrihedd Dragoon

3x First Light

2x Thunderbolt Potion

SILVER:

1x Dennis Cranmer

1x Sheldon Skaggs

1x Cleaver

1x Barclay Els

1x Yarpen Zigrin

1x Decoy

GOLD:

1x Iorveth <--- Can be replaced by a better Gold if you have one, but it's good to have some removal.

1x Zoltan Chivay

1x Saesenthessis

1x Saskia

Mulligan:

Try to get as many Dwarven Agitators in your hand as possible. Make sure you DO NOT have all 3 Mahakam Defenders in hand, or else the Agitator will have nothing to copy from your deck! The whole reason we only have 2 types of bronze dwarf cards in our deck is to ensure the Agitator ALWAYS spawns a Defender. I usually keep 1 Defender in hand at most. Mulligan the rest.

Mulligan any Elven Wardancers, since they are played immediately when mulliganed. That is their only purpose.

Try to draw Saskia if you can.

Round 1 Moves:

If you drew her, play Saskia to mulligan any leftover Elven Wardancers or extra Mahakam Defenders, and draw any Dwarven Agitators you have left in your deck. Another good card to draw with Saskia is the Vrihedd Dragoon.

Play the Vrihedd Dragoon as soon as possible, so he can buff your hand throughout the round. If the enemy Locks or destroys him, fine. That's one reason we play him first: so that the enemy uses their lock/damage attacks on the Dragoon instead of our more important cards, like Yarpen Zigrin.

Yarpen Zigrin usually comes next. If you did not draw him, do so now using your Leader card. Play Yarpen and hope that the enemy doesn't destroy or lock him. He has Resilience (meaning he will remain on the board for the next round) and grows more powerful with each dwarf played. He's our most powerful card, but we can still win without him.

Next, play all your Dwarven Agitators to summon copies of Mahakam Defenders. Once they are all on the board, play Dennis Cranmer. The reason you play him AFTER the Agitators is so he will buff the Defender copies they created. If you don't have Dennis, use your leader to summon him.

If you have Sheldon Skaggs in hand, then play EVERYTHING you can into the Melee Lane. If the enemy drops some weather on that lane, clear it with First Light. If you can't, then play Sheldon on that lane in order to move everything else out. Otherwise, just play Skaggs right near the end so he gets maximum buff.

Zoltan Chivay can also be used to move your Defenders out of harm's way and buff them.

Use Iorveth and Cleaver to take down any threats the enemy puts on the board. (It might actually be worth running some more removal cards like Alzur's Thunder in place of, say, a First Light or Thunderbolt Potion.) And finally, use Decoy to restore any Locked units, or to draw more Defender copies with an Agitator, or to take out more threats with Cleaver.

Always hold onto Saesenthessis and play her last, since she is buffed by all dwarves & elves on the board. A great finishing move.

Strategy:

What makes this deck so fun is that we get to go ALL IN, ALL THE TIME! None of that "Should I bluff and pass?" thinking for you, no sir! Because your goal is to win the first round by any means necessary, and to fill the board with as many Resilient units as possible (Yarpen & the Defenders) and buff them as much as possible (using Thunderbolt Potion and Zoltan). All of these will carry over into the second round!

If you lose the first round, then you might be in trouble, because a smart foe will simply pass on the second round (since the board still will be covered in your Resilient dwarves), and then any Defenders still in your hand will be much less useful, since Resilience is no good on round 3. But don't give up! Hopefully you will have used up nearly all your bronze cards on round 1, leaving nothing but Silvers and Golds in your hand (like Saesenthessis), which might be enough to win round 3, since your enemy has probably used up all their stuff to win the first round. Basically it's all luck at that point.

Oooh, I play Gwent! My clanmates who also play the Witcher games either didn't play Gwent or complain the freestanding one is too different from the version they played in The Witcher III, so I've just been puttering around in the Single player challenges and holiday events. I'll occasionally make a brave charge into casual play, but get only mixed results with my very basic Northen Realms - Foltest buff and armor deck. I'm experimenting with a Nilfgaard deck, too, but haven't invested enough time or money to really get good at the game. I'll gladly take a screenshot of my deck when I get home, though! (and add you on GOG, too, if you'll allow me.)

BTW, you asked about The Witcher earlier, and I wanted to give you the same advice I give everyone regarding the first game: don't get bogged down in the Vizima swamp in Chapter 2. If you start to get really tired of running around in the mire killing drowners and bloedzuigers, just go ahead and finish that chapter and move on. It might not be worth doing every side-quest there, since it takes forever. But the rest of the game is fantastic. I still think TW1 rivals TW3 in terms of sheer atmosphere. And the ending is great. Pay attention for the twist.

I've already made a few modifications to my Dwarven Endurance deck in Gwent. I swapped out Iorveth for Ithlinne and switched both Thunderbolt Potions for Alzur's Thunders. The potions were weak, and I needed more removal. Nilfgaard players running Sweers still eat me for breakfast though. Once Sweers eats all your Defenders, game's over.

One thing I can say: of all the digital card games I've tried, Gwent gives BY FAR the most rewards. CDPR gives cards away like candy! Win 3 games for a new pack each day, which takes 2-3 days in Hearthstone, and playing Ranked just showers you in packs...

Heh, "don't get bogged down." I wish you'd told me that before I went and got my boots soaked chasing a drowned dead for Siegried's tongue contract. Preeettty sure I'm going to get trench foot. XD But in all seriousness, thank you! I'm just doing the sidequests for the coin, since apparently quests in this game have required reading, but the textbooks , er, sorry tomes and such cost exorbitant amounts; but I need to get that information to be able to do the bigger, better jobs so I can have the money to buy the gear I want. Wait....am I in college again?

Anywho, I promised a Gwent deck screenshot, so here it is, for your viewing, critiquing, or mocking pleasure.

I've probably overstuffed it, but I found that this arrangement allows me to win wars of attrition, particularly against some AI challenges and most players at my level...which is the very bottom... >.> But it gives me plenty of troops for Foltest to buff, armor for my Dun Banner Cavalry to exploit or to otherwise keep my units in the fight, and plenty of lovely siege weapons that whittle the enemy down with satisfying "whoosh-thumps." I'm working on getting more Temerian cards to capitalize off of the Blue Stripes' ability, they definitely pair well with the Temerian Infantry. Those and the Blue Stripe Scouts seem to be the only cards with the same power, though. Ah well, it's still handy to be able to drown the enemy in numbers like that.

I've probably overstuffed it, but I found that this arrangement allows me to win wars of attrition, particularly against some AI challenges and most players at my level...which is the very bottom... >.> But it gives me plenty of troops for Foltest to buff, armor for my Dun Banner Cavalry to exploit or to otherwise keep my units in the fight, and plenty of lovely siege weapons that whittle the enemy down with satisfying "whoosh-thumps." I'm working on getting more Temerian cards to capitalize off of the Blue Stripes' ability, they definitely pair well with the Temerian Infantry. Those and the Blue Stripe Scouts seem to be the only cards with the same power, though. Ah well, it's still handy to be able to drown the enemy in numbers like that.

That's a BIG deck! Less chance of drawing your silvers/golds with so many bronzes... I usually see people build Northern Realms decks towards one of three things: Armor (usually with Radovid), infantry buffing (with Foltest), or Siege (usually with Henselt). Temerian Infantrymen, Blue Stripes Scouts, and Blue Stripes Commandos all have the same power, I think...

But it sucks, so don't try it. It's so hard to time all your buffs just right...

Having some extra cards can be useful though... because lately I've started running into Nilfgaard players whose tactic is to make you overdraw your deck until you have no cards left. Yes, that's really a thing. Reminds me of overdraw rogues in Hearthstone, which thankfully is no longer a thing in Standard mode.

In fact, my dwarves deck has been getting beaten a lot lately, so I've switched over to a variant of this netdeck instead: http://www.gwentdb.c...s-still-a-thing- only I don't have Coral, Muzzle, or Iris, so I'm running Hjalmar, Ermion and Jutta an Dimun instead. Anyway, it's a fun deck, but it takes some serious learning... pretty tricky. I screw it up a lot.

HEY HEY! I have moved my card game ramblings to their own topic in order to stop cluttering up the "what are you currently playing" thread.

The third and final card game I've been playing is Elder Scrolls Legends, which is basically Hearthstone but with a few key changes:

Instead of classes, your deck is made of 2 different attributes (each with its own color, like Magic: The Gathering).

The board is split into two "lanes." Creatures can only attack other creatures in the same lane as them. The right lane is called the "shadow lane", and any creature summoned there gains stealth until it attacks (except Guard creatures).

Each player has 5 Runes around their portrait. When their health drops below a Rune, it breaks, and they draw an extra card.

Decks have a minimum of 50 cards, which is kinda insane IMO, and increases the reliance on luck.

This last Rune mechanic is the most annoying one. You MUST have a lot of cards in your deck that draw other cards, or else you will start to run out of cards when facing an enemy with really strong board control. Because they will simply refuse to hit your face until they have enough power on the board to kill you in one turn. This happens all the time and is super annoying, but it's certainly an understandable tactic, because when an enemy Rune breaks, it can drastically change the game. They might draw a card marked "Prophecy," which means they can play it immediately, screwing up your whole plan or even turning the tide in their favor. "Rush" decks (mostly strength ones, like Werewolves, which transform when a rune is broken) can find themselves with an empty hand if they hit enemy runes too hard and too fast, and the enemy has enough control to counter them.

So anyway, here's the deck I've had the most luck with so far:

Card list:

Spoiler

1x Execute

3x Firebolt

3x A Night to Remember

1x High Rock Summoner

3x Shrieking Harpy <---- EVERYONE runs this damn card; it's surprisingly effective, especially when played via Prophecy (drawn from a Health Rune being destroyed, which I will discuss below)

2x Camlorn Hero <---- Also surprisingly useful, especially if the enemy is low on health but walled up behind Guards

3x Cunning Ally <---- Been looking for a replacement for this because its ability fails to tick WAY too often, even in a deck of well over half Intellect cards

3x Dark Rebirth

2x Grisly Gourmet

2x Breton Conjurer <---- I only run 2 of this guy because it seems like the enemy NEVER lets him break his Ward; they always find a way to kill him first, which makes him a high cost for nothing

3x Elusive Schemer <---- just for the extra Draw

3x Lightning Bolt

2x Tome of Alteration

1x Vicious Dreugh <---- might should run 2 of these

3x Piercing Javelin

3x Winterhold Illusionist

3x Conjuration Scholar <---- best card for this deck

1x Conjuration Tutor

2x Golden Saint

2x Ice Storm

1x Ancano

1x Mantikora

1x Supreme Atromancer

1x Paarthurnax

This is a deck I got off the web and modified. It's based around re-summoning via A Night to Remember, Dark Rebirth, and Winterhold Illusionist, making all 3 of those essential cards. Your other cards should all have really good Summon (read:battlecry) and/or Last Gasp (read:deathrattle) abilities to abuse via re-summoning. The best cards for this are ones that summon allies, especially the Conjuration Scholar, who summons a Frost Atronach. Use your damage-dealing spells and minions to control the board until you draw your really good cards like Conjuration Scholar, and then re-summon those a bunch of times to fill the board with Atronachs. This is mostly a control deck, but you should still hit the enemy's face pretty often so that your Golden Saints will work.

Even if you don't run a re-summon deck, I would recommend pretty much always using Intellect (blue) as one of your two deck attributes/colors. Pretty much everyone seems to do this, because Firebolt, Lightning Bolt, and Ice Storm can't be beaten in terms of board control - and they can even be used to finish off the enemy hero (Lightning Bolt especially) unlike Lethal cards in Agility. I have a decent Intellect/Agility deck too, for maximum board control, but it just doesn't hit as hard as this one.

That looks quite fun! I'll probably stick with Gwent with what little gaming time I have these days, since I chose it over Hearthstone because more of my friends were familiar with the Witcher franchise than with Warcraft. Still, it's nice to have a trusted source passing on information on this game I'd only heard of in passing.

The lane mechanic intrigues me, especially since it restricts cards very differently than Hearthstone's open board and Gwent's army-like rows. Are there tactics for some kind of evasion or unfavorably repositioning the enemy's cards?

Gwent is the best game of the lot, IMO. Much more reliant on strategy over luck, and with my favorite art style of the lot (and the music!). It's also the most complicated, I'd say.

Though, all of them are plagued by "THE META" - the handful of decks that are competitive at the high levels until another patch or expansion comes out. THE META is the bane of all of these games, because once you hit a certain rank you start to learn every single deck that you will meet. You always know "oh, that's a Jade Druid" or "oh, that's the Scoia'tael Spell Buff deck". I'm kinda bitter about it because I was trying some new strats in Gwent today and I lost every. single. game. AAaarggghhh. My rank has grown too high, now I'm fighting the cool kids.

But yeah, there are cards in Elder Scrolls that let you move units between lanes, especially in the Agility deck. It's useful because moving a unit from the attack lane to the shadow lane gives it stealth. If a lane is full and you play a card to it, you can sacrifice a card, which can actually have benefits. And if a card summons something into a full lane, it will summon it instead in the next lane.

FREE GWENT TIP: One interesting mechanic of Gwent that I only just learned about (never saw it in the tutorials) is called Blacklisting. When you first draw your hand and get to mulligan 3 cards, each card you mulligan gets "blacklisted", meaning you will NOT draw another copy of that same card when you mulligan. Knowing this lets you make much more intelligent mulligans, by choosing the cards you definitely don't want to draw again first.

All of the card games I've been playing have released updates recently.

Gwent: Added a huge Midwinter Update with a ton of new cards adding new leaders, units, and play styles to every faction. Plus, the graphic interface is a lot more user-friendly now, and card animations a lot smoother. Oh, and another single player event. Really cool stuff. Dwarven Agitators finally have their own voice lines!

Hearthstone: Added the "Kobolds & Catacombs" D&D-inspired expansion. It's... silly. I mean, kobolds? That's the best theme they could come up with? Who on earth cares about kobolds? They're only marginally less annoying than murlocs. Anyway, the single-player adventure they added is pretty fun, finally providing something solo players a campaign worth playing more than once, but most of the new cards & deck builds are just obnoxious, as usual.

Elder Scrolls: Added a new campaign about Dwemer robots and stuff. The new Factorum guys build upon each other the more of them you play, kind of like the horrible Jade Golems from Hearthstone. I'd rate thew new cards as more fun than Hearthstone's K&C stuff, overall.

Hearthstone and Elder Scrolls are so dang luck-based though, that I'm starting to think I should just abandon both of those and go pure Gwent. After playing all 3 games a bunch, the luck of the draw in the first 2 games gets really old. Gwent is the only one that feels consistently strategic.

Play guide:
1: Mulligan away Mahakam Volunteers first, then any Guards and Skirmishers. If you have both spells (Tremors and Thunder) in hand, mulligan at least one of those, because Ithlinne can't use a spell that's in your hand.
2: Push hard on the first round, using Dwarven Agitators to draw your other dwarves for huge value. Avoid playing Barclay Els if Paulie Dahlberg is still tucked away in your deck (as opposed to hand, board, or graveyard), because Barclay might pull him to no effect. But always play Barclay on round 1 or 2, so you can resurrect him on round 3 using Hattori.
3. On round 3, play Hattori to resurrect Barclay or a Dwarven Agitator. Hopefully your opponent can't beat your value!

(TIP: There is a Skellige "damage dealer" deck right now that is VERY hard to beat. If your opponent is playing Skellige with Harald the Cripple as their leader, ALWAYS keep your First Light in hand, and ALWAYS try your best to win the first round. He will try to use weather to make you pass, but don't let him. Then play as many cards as possible in the second round, to bleed his hand down for the third round. His strategy depends on winning the first round, dry-passing on second, and then hitting you with ridiculous damage on third. Don't let him.)

Play guide:
A very easy deck to play. Just hit the enemy's face as fast and hard as possible, while keeping up defense and tempo with your Secrets (Explosive Rune is OP). Avoid killing enemy minions with your spells unless you absolutely have to. Hit the face, face, FACE!
The deck revolves around Aluneth, the new mage weapon that draws cards on each turn. Craft Aluneth first. When the game starts, mulligan as much as possible to fish for Aluneth. Play it as early as possible. It will draw tons of cheap spells for you to use. Save your Sorcerer's Apprentices until you have lots of spells to use them with.

I got to Rank 5 using this deck, which is the best I've ever done in Hearthstone. I probably could have climbed higher, but I got tired of it by the time the month ended.

(no new deck for Elder Scrolls Legends; I've almost given up on that game; it's too luck-based)

Gwent keeps changing again and again. I guess that's to be expected for a game still technically in "beta" (though I'm beginning to wonder if it ever won't be in beta). As the great nerf-buff bat swings wildly, we must keep up with the changing times.

After trying many, many, MANY netdecks from gwentDB, over and over again, I've determined that all of them are just too damn gimmicky for me, depending heavily on very precise, lucky draws and exact plays that can be countered by an opponent who knows what to expect. I've had much better luck with a deck mostly of my own making:

CARD LIST:

Leader:

Francesca Findabair

Gold:

Ithlinne Aegli <-- Since Tremors got nerfed, I no longer save Ithlinne for a final nuke. She's best played early-ish to remove enemy "engines" that generate value over time.

Iorveth: Meditation <-- He got nerfed pretty hard recently, so he's much more situational now. Feel free to play him early if you see a good opportunity, as he might end up being useless if you save him too long.

Isengrim: Outlaw <-- Use him to pull Decoy or Commander's Horn if you have a really good use for them. If you have them both in hand, then instead spawn the most useful silver card you can.

Ciri: Nova

SIlver:

Yaevinn

Eibhear Hattori

Paulie Dahlberg

Barclay Els

Decoy

Commander's Horn <-- Could possibly be replaced with a stronger Silver, since it got nerfed recently, but it still serves pretty admirably for me.

Bronze:

Vrihedd Dragoon x2

Hawker Smuggler x2

Dwarven Mercenary x2 <-- I run these guys because running only 1 type of dwarf besides Agitator is too risky, and the Mercenary can pull allies out of weather, which is nice.

Dwarven Skirmisher x2

Wardancer x2

Dwarven Agitator x2

Elven Scout x2

Alzur's Thunder x2 <-- Always keep one of these in your deck (NOT your hand) so that Ithlinne can summon it.

THE BASICS:

This deck is based around Ciri: Nova, a card that strengthens herself from 1 to 22 when played if you have exactly 2 copies of each Bronze card in your deck. No more, no less. She's your trump card, ideally played last, to avoid scorch.

Mulligan:

Remember, any cards you swap during your mulligan are "blacklisted", meaning you will not re-draw a copy of that card. Here is your blacklist order: Alzur's Thunder (need to keep one in your deck for Ithlinne), Dwarven Skirmisher & Dwarven Mercenary (both work best when drawn by other dwarves).

Ideally, you want to have 1 Wardancer and Yaevinn in hand. That way, you have an excellent card for round 2 whether you win or lose.

If you draw 2 Wardancers, feel free to mulligan 1 of them. But you can always do it later with your leader, Francesca.

Round 1:

You'll usually want to open with a value engine, like Vrihedd Dragoon or Hawker Smuggler. The latter is extremely good against swarm decks that play tons of little units, including mirror matches against Scoia'tael.

Always try to play a dwarf in round 1, so that Paulie Dahlberg will have something to resurrect in round 3. Playing Barclay Els in round 1 is ideal, so he can be resurrected by Hattori in round 3 and so Paulie can resurrect the dwarf that Barclay strengthens. But just remember that if you don't have Paulie in hand, Barclay could pull Paulie, so only risk this if you have a dead dwarf soldier in the graveyard for Paulie to rez.

If by some freak chance you have no Dwarven Agitators or Barclay in hand, at least play an Elven Scout so that there's something for Hattori to resurrect in round 3. If your Elven Scout can spawn a hand-buff card, always buff Hattori.

If round 1 is about to end and you're losing, make sure you have a Wardancer in hand. If you don't, then play Francesca and draw one.

If round 1 is about to end and you're winning, make sure you have Yaevinn in hand. If you don't, then play Francesca and draw him.

If you have both in hand, feel free to save Francesca for round 2 or 3 for extra hand control.

Round 2:

This round tends to be short, since the winning player will usually "dry pass" without playing a card, depending on who has more cards, either to force the enemy to go down a card, or to even out the cards if they're behind.

If you lost round 1, mulligan your Wardancer immediately to avoid going down a card if your opponent dry-passes. Then play normally and try to stay ahead in score until your opponent passes.

If you won round 1 and your opponent passed early, so you both have a lot of cards still in hand, start playing normally in order to bleed him down, while saving your best cards for round 3. Once you've bled the enemy enough, play your Yaevinn. This will force your opponent to play another card, and hopefully you can stay ahead.

Round 3:

If you still have Francesca, play her at any time to swap out your most useless card (possibly a Wardancer or Yaevinn if you still have either of them) and draw Ciri: Nova or the next best card.

Then just play normally and drop Ciri last and hope you win!

This deck is nowhere near as powerful as it was before the Squirrels got smacked with the nerf stick, but I still have way, way more luck with it than any other supposedly stronger decks I've tried.

Apparently Gwent is going to undergo some major changes in a few months, in preparation for going out of beta at long last. They're even talking about removing one of the rows from the board! Which I think is a good idea, honestly.

But before things change, here's one last deck that I actually put together myself instead of netdecking. It's not that strong, but it's pretty solid and fun & easy to play:

MULLIGAN:
Always mulligan Kaedweni Knight first. Then just try to fish out as many silver/gold cards as you can, while ensuring that you don't have ALL of your Tactic cards in hand (so that John Natalis will have one to draw from the deck).
If you think your enemy will use weather (Eredin or Dagon decks, usually), keep those Sergeants ready.

ROUND ONE:
Just kinda play to win but save your best cards if you can.
If you have a Kaedweni Cavalry or two in hand, then I like to kick off by playing a Redanian Elite or Knight and using the Kaedweni Cavalry to remove their armor. You don't want to have Kaedweni Cavalry in hand for Round 3 if you have Vincent, so go ahead and use them.
A good power play is to drop Prince Stennis and then play him again with Decoy. He's a great card to use on Round 1 if you have Shani in hand to resurrect him on Round 3.
And of course use the Knight-Elects as early as possible for maximum value. If they lose their armor, Keira can fix them with her Thunderbolt potion or whatever it's called.

ROUND TWO:
If you won Round 1, then drop Thaler to force your opponent to play a card even if they still have one on the board. Then just dry-pass.
If you lost Round 1, then you'll just have to hope the enemy doesn't bleed you too hard...

ROUND THREE:
Just play the best you can while saving Ciri: Nova and/or Vincent for your final play. Vincent is often actually stronger than Ciri if there is sufficient armor on the board.

The biggest weakness of this deck is that your leader, Radovid, is your only offensive card. So save him for as long as you can to deal with the worst enemy threats and value-engines. Try to save him for Round 3 if you can.

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for my next deckpost, so here's THE BEST DECK in Hearthstone right now:

Card list:
2x Acherus Veteran

2x Argent Squire

2x Blessing of Might

2x Fire Fly

2x Glacial Shard

2x Lost in the Jungle

2x Righteous Protector

1x Divine Favor

2x Ironbeak Owl

2x Stonehill Defender

2x Tar Creeper <-- Swap these out for 2x Level Up once you can. I still need to craft them.

2x Unidentified Maul

2x Fungalmancer

1x Prince Liam (Greymane)

1x Stormwind Champion

1x Vinecleaver

1x Baku the Mooneater

1x Ysera

MULLIGAN:

Trade out any high-cost cards in your opening hand. Keep the 1-costs and maybe a 3-cost, and keep Prince Liam if you draw him.

STRATEGY:

Just remember my motto, "If you want to win the race, never trade, just HIT THE FACE!" This is a faceroll deck. Just keep pounding the enemy's health down and keep him on the defensive as much as possible. Only kill his minions if you absolutely must.

Since you have Baku the Mooneater in this deck, you can only run cards with an odd mana cost. If you do, then Baku upgrades your hero power at the start of the game to summon 2 recruits instead of 1, for the same amount of mana. Spam this hero power as much as possible, on virtually every turn. Save your cards and keep spawning & buffing your recruits!

This is a super popular netdeck in the current meta, but few of versions of it run Prince Liam, and I can't understand why not! He's a fantastic card for making sure you can survive in the late game. Since this is an aggressive swarm deck, an opponent with sufficient control can wipe you out in the early game and leave you floundering, drawing a useless 1-cost card each turn into an otherwise empty hand. But if you play Liam, all those pathetic 1-cost peons in your deck turn into random Legendaries! Sure, some of the legendaries suck on their own, but they're still better than a freakin' Argent Squire standing out there on its lonesome. I managed to beat a board-clearing Priest who kept healing himself and destroying all my cards, purely with the power of Prince Liam. The Priest survived my early low-cost onslaught and even gave himself 40 health with the quest card, and probably thought he had victory in the bag... until my endless waves of legendaries came into play! Which is why I say keep Prince Liam in your opening hand and play him as soon as you hit 5 mana.